the obama administration -- i know they are working with this inside the white house to do a better job explaining the legality of the program, who they are targeting, why it is lawful, and why the rest of the world should in fact agree with what they are doing. in a moment i would be happy to get into the more of the legal details, but that is where we are right now. >> thanks, john. >> thanks, mike, and thank you very much to the bipartisan policy center for having this event and inviting me. let me start out in the spirit of the center with agreeing with a lot of what john bellinger has said. the targeted killing program has profoundly important legal and policy questions, and the debate is crippled because we do not actually have a lot of the information that we need in order to determine the full extent of where the program is being carried out, how, against two, with what investigation, and what measures to prevent harm to civilians. let me also start out with another point of agreement. often a straw man is created, the idea that -- as a legal matter, i don't think drones are per